GOA - An Indian man has been arrested for allegedly raping and robbing a British tourist in the western state of Goa.
Police told news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) that the 48-year-old British woman was attacked early on Thursday morning (Dec 20) as she walked to Palolem beach in the south Goa town of Canacona.
The accused, 31-year-old Ramchandran Y, is from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. He was brought to court on Friday and remanded in police custody until Jan 2, reported news site NDTV.
"The woman complained to the police that while she was walking from the Canacona railway station towards the beach, an unidentified person forcibly took her to a roadside where he raped her," police inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai told PTI.
The attacker fled after the attack, taking three bags belonging to the woman.
Goa is one of India's top travel destinations, with thousands of tourists flocking to its beaches every year.
Police said the woman had been a regular visitor to Goa for the last 10 years.
Police were able to track down the suspect with the help of CCTV footage from the railway station as well as the area where the crime occurred, according to the NDTV news website.
India has seen a number of attacks against female tourists in recent years.
According to the BBC, Irish woman Danielle McLaughlin was raped and murdered while on holiday in Goa in 2017. Vikhat Bhagat, 24, was arrested soon after her murder and his trial, which began in April, is still under way.
In 2008, Scarlett Keeling, a 15-year-old British teenager, was raped and killed while on a trip in Goa. Her killers are yet to be caught. Two men who had faced charges of culpable homicide and grievous sexual assault were both cleared in 2016.
Meanwhile, incidents of rape and violence against women in India continue to be reported across the country, after the horrific attack in 2012 where a female student was gang-raped and murdered on a bus in capital New Delhi.
Government data shows reported cases of overall crimes against women in India rose by 83 per cent from 2007 to 2016, a year when four rape cases were reported every hour.
